Should You Quit Your Job?

Do you hate your job? Does what you do not inspire you? Do the people you work with drive you nuts? Are you ready to walk out the door?

Or is something holding you back? Do you have to keep putting food on the table? Paying the mortgage? Are other jobs not available? Or maybe they are, but do they pay enough?

Our latest Geek Logik-inspired tool can help you work through whether it makes more sense to fish or cut bait when it comes to what you do for a living. Just answer the questions below, and the tool will do the rest....

Job and Personal Factors
Input Data	Values
Hours per day the song Take This Job and Shove It plays in your head
Your Age
How good is your current job? (1-10 with 10 being "ambassador to Italy")	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
How many kids do you have?
Your chances of quickly finding another job (1-10 with 10 being "already signed a new contract")	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Your level of financial commitment (1-10 with 1 being "mortgaged into next millennium")	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Monthly salary you could expect to receive at a new job
Monthly salary at current job

Should You Quit Your Job?
Calculated Results	Values
Quitting Index Score
What You Should Do

The threshold at which the tool's results will tip in favor of quitting your job occurs at a Quitting Index Score just greater than 1. As always, we point this out so you can play with the various factors to see just what combinations it might take to finally drive you out the door from your work!

Garth Sundem has this to say about the math formula behind this tool in his book (and by the way - don't you think you should stop putting off buying a copy?)

This equation, like a few others in this book, follows the model of desire versus practicality. If you really hate your job and you have a good chance of finding another just as good, why not quit? However, if the practicalities of your life leave you with little financial flexibility and you can get by now without outspending your salary on therapy, you might consider sticking around.

But then, if you're actually thinking about leaving your current job, and came to this tool to help you make your decision, you probably are already well acquainted with all these considerations. If anything, the one thing holding you back is likely not having that next job lined up and not really being able to pursue your search while working in your current position.

To that end, we'll point you to this helpful article from online job search site CareerBuilder, which describes how you might go about hiding your search for a new job from your current boss.

And while we're at it, here's a brief listing of our previous posts on the world of jobs and careers:

Getting a Job

• The Division and Diversification of Labour
  
• Interviewing in Hell
  

On the Job

• Accountability and "The Apprentice"
  
• Managing Difficult People
  
• Should You Call in Sick?
  
• How Many Beers Should You Have at the Company Picnic?
  
• Going Off Track
  
• Righting a Troubled Project
  

Money, Money, Money

• Average Wages in the U.S.
  
• Data for the Slaves of Wages
  
• The Jobs that Pay the Least
  

Education and Jobs

• Your Education and Your Earnings
  
• Education and Unemployment
  
• Growing Good Jobs
  

Really, Really Bad Jobs

• High Investment, Low Payoff Careers
  
• The Worst Job, Ever
  
• Are You Too Good for Your Job?
  
• Oh, the Stories We Could Tell...
  

Trends in Good Jobs

• The Highest Ranked "Good" Jobs
  
• Jobs for the Undegreed
  
• Trends in Where College Degrees Are in Demand
  
• The 50 Best Jobs in the U.S.
  

Out of a Job?

• Do Government Programs Help Dislocated Workers?
  
• The Disappearing Minimum Wage Worker
  
• The Young and Unemployed